City comptroller to join private sector

City Comptroller Phoebe Selden has resigned her post to take a job in private industry, City Hall sources said Thursday.

Selden will become senior vice president of Moody's Investors Service, managing the firm's new Chicago office, the sources said.

Selden, who joined the city in 1990 after working as an audit manager at Ernst & Young, was named comptroller by Mayor Richard Daley four years ago. She has been responsible for payment of the city's bills, city accounting, auditing, benefits and risk management. A successor has not been chosen.

Selden is one of two top Daley administration finance officials bound for the private sector.

In March, Chief Financial Officer Walter Knorr announced he had accepted an executive position with Salomon Smith Barney Inc. Knorr subsequently agreed to stay on to help resolve a $115 million city budget gap but is expected to leave for his new job soon.